Eons ago, I saw this picture in a Nutshell News from the 80s or 90s, of two McKinley dollhouses built back to back.* It always stuck with me as a really cool bash and I wanted to try it, but with the Victorianna — the half scale version of the McKinley, which has been out of production for a long time.
(I actually owned a McKinley for a while that I bought off Craigslist intending to rehab it, but never got very far with it.)
For a while Greenleaf talked about bringing back the Victorianna… it never happened (I don’t know why) but they did do a limited run of “select” Victoriannas in 2008 that they never sold. I was given one as a thank you for being a forum moderator. Greenleaf’s select houses are die cut (not laser cut like Greenleaf’s newer kits) but use birch plywood — much nicer and less splintery than the typical luan plywood. I put the kit on the shelf, hoping that they would someday rerelease it so I could get a second and embark on my back-to-back bash.
Then last fall someone posted a few Victoriannas on eBay — unopened, “new old stock” from a mini store that went out of business — and I was lucky enough to nab one. I was planning to dive in on the Little Belle next and have actually been stocking up on furniture for it, but the Victorianna started calling my name. So last week I pulled out the kits and started playing around with ideas.
Here’s my dry fit. the house on the left is the select version (built right-side-out), and the one on the right is the luan plywood (built in reverse). The Victorianna is meant to hang on the wall, so it’s open on one side and the other side is completely flat.